Creating a lean, efficient government requires small victories

In my 45 years in business, I have come to realize that success is the result of small victories and incremental progress. In the private sector, efficiency generally equals profit, and the more streamlined you can make processes the better your business will function. While I am always looking for ways to improve the efficiency in my own small business, much of my success is due to my employees buying into a culture of efficiency, and taking the initiative to highlight more efficient ways to perform their roles. I recognized the benefit of empowering employees to diagnose inefficiencies early in my career, and continue to help foster this system in my business today. Now in my second year as a state legislator, I believe this same philosophy is possible in our state government.

As we approach the 2016 session, I am working with several state departments to identify and remove some unnecessary and antiquated statutes. One example is a duplicative and rarely reviewed quarterly report that the Department of Revenue is legally required to produce for the state legislature. As this report is required by statute, state employees must take time to draft, review and complete this report – time they could certainly spend doing something more productive. When I discovered this unnecessary report and approached the Department about repealing the statute, my proposal was not only well received, it elicited several more unnecessary and time consuming obligations with which the Department is statutorily-bound to perform.

You may be thinking that removing some small reports seems rather innocuous on the grand scale of state government, but small victories are the foundation for significant change. There is not a single bill that would shrink government or make it all run more efficiently. The process must come from the inside with employees and personnel each looking for ways to maximize output and improve productivity.

While profit may not drive efficiency in government, I believe most government employees prefer to work efficiently. With the sufficient conduits in place for state personnel to report inefficiencies to the state legislature, we can begin to eliminate some of the unnecessary obligations impeding productivity and help state departments strengthen a culture of efficiency. By themselves small victories may not be groundbreaking, but an accumulation of them is how we will achieve a leaner and more efficient state government.

If you have thoughts about this issue please contact me and thank you for taking the time to read at our newsletter. You can keep up with all of our caucus updates by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook or visiting www.coloradohousegop.com.